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Spring Market 2103 competition winners

In January we ran a competition to find designers and makers who have used the Library to develop their ideas, the prize was a day selling their products at our at our Spring Market on Monday 4 March 2013.

The winners of the competition also get training in running a market stall, free business advice through the Business & IP Centre, as well as marketing support from the Library.

I bought some great presents at last years Spring Market so am really looking forward to this one.

Spring Market winners 2013

Ali Miller
Ali’s handmade and UK produced homewares have a traditional, nostalgic feel with a twist of British quirkiness. Her vintage inspired work has been featured in the BBC’s Sherlock Holmes series as well as in notable publications such as Elle, Financial Times and The Telegraph. Ali has attended the Library’s ‘Make it, Sell it’ event and used our Business & IP Centre for research.
www.alimiller.co.uk

ali-miller

Anthropoid Clothing
Using her training as a scientific and natural history illustrator, Abigail Lingford creates bags, home wares, clothing and shoes inspired by her love of science. She was shortlisted for the BBC wildlife artist of the year in 2012 and has been featured in Time Out and The Guardian. She is inspired by our exhibitions, including ‘Out of This World’ on science fiction. She is also a user of our Business & IP Centre which helps her to commercialise her work.
www.anthropoidclothing.com

anthropoid-clothing

Boodi Blu
Upcycling has become increasingly popular in recent years. Boodi Blu’s Sarah Marafie has utilised this to create beautiful bespoke pieces of china and porcelain jewellery. The china she uses has been found buried or washed up on river banks, building an historical story to the jewellery. Sarah has used our Business & IP Centre to better understand intellectual property, copyright and to attend our ‘Knowing your Market’ workshop.
www.boodiblu.com

boodi-blu

Euan Cunningham
A professional artist, Euan has applied his ink and watercolour drawings of London landmarks to items such as greeting cards, mugs, t-shirts and prints. Euan was featured in the Sunday Times and his card designs are now sold in Fortnum and Mason. The Library’s building has influenced his work – watch out for the British Library print!
http://commissionahouseportrait.com/

euan-cunningham

Josie Shenoy Illustration
Josie is an illustrator and designer who is inspired by storytelling and has a passion for fusing hand-made and digital approaches. Josie’s success is growing; she has recently sold her work with Topshop and ASOS. Josie attended our ‘Make it, Sell it’ event and has enjoyed our exhibitions such as ‘Mughal India: Art, Culture and Empire’.
http://josieshenoy.com

josie-shenoy

Lisa Edoff
Swedish graphic designer Lisa Edoff creates beautiful products inspired by folk tales, nature, pop culture and the surrounding environment. She was directly approached by notonthehighstreet.com to become a partner and her products have been recommended by The Independent Magazine. Lisa has used our Business & IP Centre to attend our ‘Beginner’s guide to IP’ workshop, get one-to-one business advice and to network with other makers.
www.lisaedoff.com

lisa-edoff

Lucy Alice Designs
Lucy Porter has been creating gifts, cards, jewellery and homewares since 2011, all of which are influenced by her love of illustration and the British outdoors. Lucy was Runner up in the New Design Britain Awards in January 2012 as well as an exhibitor at MADE 12. Lucy has used the Library’s Business & IP Centre to research intellectual property and to create her business plan as well as researching British wildlife in our wider collections.
www.lucyalicedesigns.co.uk

lucy alice designs

Motties
Environmentally friendly Motties, are cosy and stylish slippers handmade from recycled leather materials. Alexa Mottram, the designer and creator of Motties, donates £1 from every sale to the homeless charity Emmaus. Alexa has received notable press coverage from The Independent, The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian. Her focus is on ethical fashion and she used the Library’s collection to research her MSc in Sustainable Architecture and Energy Studies, which has influenced her design work.
www.motties.co.uk

motties

Nette’ Leather Goods
Talented Californian turned Londoner, Johnette Taylor produces high quality leather goods such as purses, iPad cases and bicycle accessories. Her hand crafted accessories are made to last as well as being designed for functionality and attractiveness. In 2010, Johnette won a start up grant from the Prince’s Trust, and is currently a finalist in the Brand Amplify competition. She attended our creative and fashion meet-ups and training sessions on copyright and registered designs.
www.netteleathergoods.bigcartel.com

nette-leather-goods

The English Tee Shop
Alia Qadir designs and makes a range of luxurious printed t-shirts for women. Her emphasis on Englishness is central to the brand and can be seen through her use of the English language on the t-shirts as well as manufacturing her line solely in the UK. Alia has used the Library’s Business & IP Centre to do market research and has attended a trends workshop with our partner Insider Trends.
www.theenglishteeshop.com

the-english-tee-shop

Wonderhaus
Wonderhaus is an urban jewellery brand created by Julia Roy Williams. Julia gathers inspiration from urban environments, looking at architecture, music and other sub cultures and transforms this into beautiful jewellery made from materials such as bronze, leather, perspex and rubber. Julia’s jewellery has been recommended by The Sunday Times and Grazia as well as being seen on celebrities such as Erin O’Connor. Julia has been inspired by our exhibitions, including ‘Magnificent Maps’, our online gallery of images and our St Pancras flagship building.
www.wonderhaus.co.uk

wonderhaus

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Spring Market 2013 competition: Made with the British Library

spring-market-comp-web-pageOur Spring Market in 2012 was such a success, we decided to run it again (surprise).
So if you are a designer or maker and you have used the Library to develop your idea, why not apply?

The prize is a stand at our Spring Market on Monday 4 March 2013 on the British Library Piazza in London. The Market is part of our Spring Festival and will show off the work of ten of the most innovative jewellery, fashion, homeware and craft designers who have used the British Library. If you have attended an event, used our Business & IP Centre, seen an exhibition or have a Reader Pass you are eligible to enter.

We have up to 5,000 visitors at any one time. You’ll be able to exhibit and sell your products to our visitors for the day, get experience and training in running a market stall, gain free business advice through our Business & IP Centre, plus lots of marketing and press exposure.

See the winners of last year’s Spring Market competition

Your prize

  • A market stall during the Spring Market. We will provide a stand, fabric covering and basic staging.
  • A workshop on how to dress your stand and gain the most out of the opportunity.
  • Your work featured on the British Library website.
  • We will promote your products via the British Library’s marketing channels including Twitter, Facebook, blogs and our website.
  • You’ll be included in a British Library press release sent to major national and local publications.

Competition criteria

We are looking for designers and makers who:

  • Produce fine art and photography, graphic art, jewellery, crafts, home-ware, fashion or other products.
  • Have been trading for at least six months in the UK.
  • Have a product range which has potential to make a fantastic visual display on a market stall.
  • Can sell the majority of products for around £30 or less (so that it is affordable for passing trade). Although it is fine to have a small range of high-end products to show the full range of your work.
  • Are able to attend the workshop for competition winners on Friday 8 February 2013.
  • Have used the British Library e.g. for events, exhibitions, our collections and Business & IP Centre.

How to enter

Complete our word document form and email it to springmarket@bl.uk by midnight on Sunday 27 January 2013.

Download the application form

Read our competition terms and conditions

Key dates

Midnight on Sunday 27 January 2013: Deadline for the competition
Friday 1 February 2013: Winners announced via email and on our website
Friday 8 February 2013: Workshop for the winners
Monday 4 March 2013: ‘Made with the British Library’ Spring Market

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Eat Street is dead – Long live KERB – for the best street food in London

Kerb logoMy beloved Eat St. is no more. But this is a good news story as it has been replaced by KERB, and all the great pop up shops are still there at lunch-time, sandwiched between Kings Cross Station and the University of the Arts.

Since I last reported on this lunchtime wonder (The Apprentice hits the mark with gourmet street food) I have tasted the best burger of my life at Tongue ‘N Cheek, and the most incredible sandwich courtesy of Gurmetti.

tongue and cheek

Gurmetti

Now that I have wetted your appetite, perhaps I can interest you in the latest book to grace our Small Business Help shelves in the Business & IP Centre.

Another in the successful Dummies series, Pop Up Business For Dummies by Dan Thompson has condensed 12 years experience of using empty shops and managing pop up projects to provide an in-depth guide to devising, planning and delivering a pop up shop.

Whether you’re just starting out and want to test the viability of your business, or you’re an established business looking to expand your reach, pop-ups offer an exciting and flexible opportunity. They’re a great way to try new business ideas, experiment with a new product, location or market, gain exposure, and learn about your customers – all with limited risk and financial outlay.

Inside Pop-Up Business For Dummies, you’ll find:

  • Planning your pop-up venture – whether it’s a shop, studio, gallery, or community hub.
  • Finding the right space for you.
  • Negotiating with the landlord and sorting out the legalities.
  • Fixing up and fitting out your space on a budget.
  • Pulling in the punters – advertising and marketing your pop-up.
  • Managing a successful pop-up business day-to-day.
  • Closing up shop efficiently.
  • Lots of case studies, checklists, tips and hints from experienced pop-up people!

Pop Up Business for Dummies

 

 

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Apple is the most successful brand in history because it is meaningless

ohyo_bottleDuring this years Global Enterprise Week I finally had a chance to catch-up with Guy Jeremiah one of our Success Stories.

Although his collapsible bottle was becoming a great success in the UK under the brand Aquitina, Guy was advised he should change its name before taking on the United States market.

Unfortunately Aquatina is quite similar to Aquafina, a brand of bottled water owned by PepsiCo. Naturally Guy’s advisor was concerned that the cost of going through the courts would bankrupt the business, even though he would win the case.

So a new name was needed for the brand, and the advice was to use a made-up word. By definition, no one would be able to claim ‘prior-art‘ with a newly invented name. After much experimenting Guy and his team came up with the name ohyo (pronounced yoyo).

We had a chat about the importance of the Ronseal (says what it does on the tin) approach to a name, versus the advantages of using anonymous name like ohyo. My feeling is that a descriptive name is great when you are starting out, such as Man and Transit Van. But you never really know where your business will go, or how diversified it will become. In which case your expressive name can become unhelpful. For instance Carphone Warehouse, is no longer a warehouse and doesn’t sell phones for cars.

In the case of Apple Computer, the name was effectively pulled out of a hat the day before it was needed for company registration. Its generic nature meant that once the Computer bit was dropped, the company was free to make anything they liked and stick an Apple logo on it.

According to Walter Isaacson’s recent biography of Steve Jobs, “I was on one of my fruitarian diets,” he explained. “I had just come back from the apple farm. It sounded fun, spirited, and not intimidating. Apple took the edge off the word ‘computer.’ Plus, it would get us ahead of Atari in the phone book.” He told Wozniak that if a better name did not hit them by the next afternoon, they would just stick with Apple. And they did.

You may notice a similar looking collapsible bottle at the checkout of you local Marks & Spencer branch, as ohyo have licensed their product to M&S.

ohyo_bottles

 

 

 

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Inspiring Entrepreneurs: Forward-thinking Fashion

Tonight’s excellent Inspiring Entrepreneurs event looked at different approaches to ethical, environmentally-friendly and sustainable fashion.

Rather than seeing ethical fashion as an add-on, our speakers are taking advantage of new technology and practical innovative business models to make them more creative and also sustainable in the long-term.

Tonight was run in partnership with  London College of Fashion’s Centre for Fashion Enterprise (CFE) and Designer-Manufacturer Innovation Support Centre (DISC).

DISC-image

Christian Smith is Corporate Responsibility Manager at ASOS, and has an MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development from UCL. His work at ASOS includes measurement of greenhouse gas emissions, helping the company to understand its impacts and opportunities for improvement.

Annegret Affolderbach is designer and founder of Choolips, who revive  ancient textile traditions. She is passionate about sustainable fashion, and the exciting and potent future it presents for global fashion. Her range is now sold through the ASOS Green Room.

Annegret spent a year and a half after graduating collecting ideas on Post-It notes trying to work out how she could use her talent to make a positive difference to fashion in the world. She also felt the need to be inspired for her whole business career, rather than a short term goal.

Annegret spent another year travelling and listening, visiting the Gambia to learn about Batik, and how the local producers thought about their lives and impact on their local environment.

She was determined to create a product that would be harmonious to both the producers and consumers of the products, and started with just two simple dresses.

Electrobloom flowerMark Bloomfield with a background experience of designing wearable accessories for brands such as Vivienne Westwood, Matthew Williamson and Asprey, talked about developing his own jewellery business, Electrobloom.

This has been inspired by how the worlds of nature, art, technology and science collide, he produces unique jewellery designs using 3D printing technology.

Eleanor Dorrien-Smith is the founder of PARTIMI, and graduated from Central Saint Martins with a BA in Fashion and Print. She has worked for Mary Katrantzou, Tata Naka, John Galliano and Eley Kishimoto before setting up PARTIMI. After creating a capsule collection for US retailer Anthropologie, the PARTIMI ready-to-wear collection was launched in 2010. The PARTIMI collections are defined by striking prints, a distinctive personal narrative and an environmental edge.

The evening was chaired by Melanie Frame, Sustainability Manufacturing Developer at London College of Fashion (DISC). Melanie is part of the DISC project to support fashion manufacturers and designers to innovate their production process. Melanie has been involved in various sustainability projects helping small businesses to set up sustainable and ethical practices.

A question about the concentration on sustainable supply lines led to a fascinating discussion about the speaker’s views on what sustainable fashion means to them.

For Mark it was about recreating a made-to-order type of personalised shopping experience, which gives a more engaged experience for customers.

For Christian improving the welfare of the environment and fashion producers are an important new additional part of the business model, from the traditional success measures of company share price and market share.

He talked about how the Green Room at ASOS helps breakdown the enormous challenges of sustainable fashion into bite sized chunks, making it more manageable. Also telling the story behind the product is another way of engaging customers and staff.

He gave several examples of innovation and change:

The discussion ended with a transparent discussion of producer pricing and markups that are common in sustainable fashion.

My colleague Fran Taylor who organised the event has written an excellent review of the evening on her Creative Industries blog .

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Could you be our new Jewellery Designer in Residence?

artquest-on-whiteWe have had our wonderful Inventor in Residence Mark Sheahan pretty much since we opened in 2006, and he has personally helped over 400 inventors.

More recently we have had our Entrepreneur in Residence Stephen Fear.

And now we are looking for a Jewellery Designer in Residence.

TattyDevine_Crystal_Crown_Necklace
Tatty Devine Crystal Crown Necklace

Together with Artquest we have just announced a new research residency for a mid-career London-based jeweller with at least five years’ practice.

This paid opportunity will help a designer take their work in a new direction, be inspired by the Library’s collections and gain business support.

The successful applicant will receive:

  • A bursary of £3,000 to develop (and potentially commercialise) a new body of work using material from the British Library collections.
  • Access to British Library collections and curators.
  • Access to business and intellectual property advice in the Library’s Business & IP Centre, which helps people to set up, run and grow their own business.
  • Marketing support in relation to their activity undertaken on the residency.

The deadline for applications is Monday 9 July 2012.

Maybe you could be the next Tatty Devine?

You can also contact Frances Taylor if you want to be involved in this, or our other projects targeting the library’s creative audiences.

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The Apprentice hits the mark with gourmet street food

Lucky_ChipThis evening’s Apprentice shows the show’s researchers have their ears to the ground with regard to the latest trend in street food retailing.

Pop-up shops selling gourmet fast food is all the rage in the trendier parts of London these days.

Luckily the Kings Cross development area is just one such place, with its Eat Street, just up the road from the updated eponymous station, and literally across the road from the recently opened University of the Arts.

I have been lured over to this new venture on numerous occasions, despite the relatively high prices compared to traditional fast food outlets. But the food has always been worth it, with a notable spicy burger which had a real bite to it.

As was pointed out during this weeks Apprentice episode, branding is a key element of any enterprise, and some of the stalls in Eat Street certainly have memorable names. My favourites are Daddy Donkey, Well Kneaded Ltd, Yum Bun, Hardcore Prawn, and Eat my Pies.

tongue-n-cheekHowever, I think that Tongue ‘n Cheek needs to find a way make its delicious sounding underrated meat cuts and Italian inspired street food treats, such as Ox cheek with caramelized onions and polenta, a bit more accessible given the queue size I observed the other day.

These names certainly compare favourably to the Apprentice team’s choices of Gourmet Scot Pot and Utterly delicious Meatballs.

Update: August 2012: I’m now a regular at Eat Street as their days and stalls expand all the time. I’ve just had probably the best burger I’ve ever tasted from Tongue ‘n Cheek. It was their Heartbreacker Original burger, made from Ox heart and dry aged beef burger, spicy chimichurri sauce, water cress, cheddar and sour cream. And it tasted amazing.

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An Aga Saga blog – to write home about

aga-ladyI last blogged about Aga cookers way back in June 2008 (Aga goes Web 2.0). Well, they have finally seen the social media light (Blogging for fun and profit) and started a blog.

Rather painfully it is called The World According to Lady Aga, I’m guessing Lady Gaga is unlikely to take action, as she has against Moshi Monsters (Lady Gaga wins injunction against Lady Goo Goo) and the Icecreamists (Milking a story for all it’s worth). After all the AGA brand is nearly 60 years older than Lady G.

On the positive side, it does publish some interesting facts about the expensive cookers (AGA inventor was a Nobel Prize winner), as well as some tasty recipes. And, more importantly, it has a sense of humour, with AGA Characters: Retired Rock Chick, and AGA Characters: Yummy Mummy just two examples.

So the occasional post about new product launches or expansion into new territories can be easily forgiven.

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The law of unintended consequences and e-books – Fifty Shades of Grey

50_shades_of_greyThe law of unintended consequences is an interesting topic in its own right, with perhaps the most well known example being the unexpected use of text messaging on mobile telephones.

The latest example according to David Sexton in the Evening Standard is the way e-book readers have allowed more women to read adult fiction. Apparently the lack of a racy cover and give-away title when reading a discretely packaged Amazon Kindle or Apple iPad, allows more and more women to indulge their tastes in public. No longer do they need to fear the snorts of derision or disapproving looks as they plough their way through the latest Bodice ripper.

Apparently the growth in e-books (one in eight of adult fiction books is now purchased digitally) has allowed for a rapid growth in what some call ‘Mommy porn‘, or literotica.

The UK market leader in this genre is E L James and her début adult romance novel Fifty Shades of Grey. According to her official website;

E_L_JamesE L James is a TV executive, wife and mother-of-two based in West London. Since early childhood she dreamed of writing stories that readers would fall in love with, but put those dreams on hold to focus on her family and her career. She finally plucked up the courage to put pen to paper with her first novel, Fifty Shades of Grey.

It is claimed 250,000 copies have already been sold in different formats, and has topped the New York Times Bestseller list.

So, the next time you see a fellow commuter looking a bit hot and bothered, it may not be due to the faulty heating system on the train, but caused by something hot and steamy in her e-book reader.

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Another great Inspiring Entrepreneurs with Mothers of Invention

Another fantastic event this evening with a range of inspiring women entrepreneurs and their stories.

Jones_EmmaThe event was chaired with great warmth, energy and humour by Emma Jones  who launched her first business at age 27, and successfully sold it two years later. In 2006 she launched Enterprise Nation as a website to help anyone start and grow a business from home. The company has since expanded to offer online services, publications, events and finance to small businesses across the UK. Emma is also co-founder of StartUp Britain, and currently acting as the campaign’s chief executive.

Sophie_CornishAs co-founder of shopping website notonthehighstreet.com, Sophie Cornish has won many prestigious awards including the ECMOD Direct Commerce Award for the last three consecutive years and the Online Retail Award Prix D’or 2010. They now host over 2,500 businesses on notonthehighstreet selling 40,000 different products.

They came to the British Library Business & IP Centre early on to look at trends in Internet retailing. And worked hard on their business plan to the extent that they new their numbers inside out. Sohpie emphasised that creating a brand is the key challenge for any business.

Her tips were:

  • Own your mistakes
  • There is no silver bullet
  • Hard work is your unique selling point
  • Cash is king

Kamal_BasranFrom helping her parents prepare samosas for the English pub they ran, to setting up her own food business The Authentic Food Company in 1985, Kamal Basran indulged her passion for cooking authentic Indian food and opened a small business supplying local catering establishments with hand-made samosas and other Indian snack food.

Today, the company has over 240 employees and has a turnover of over £31 million. The company are supplying many of the UK’s top hotels, pub chains, restaurants and retail outlets with the range of quality international cuisine.

When Kamal started out in business, she was a full-time teacher, settled in a comfortable lifestyle, married with two children. While out shopping she saw some ready made samosas, but once home discovered they tasted horrible and threw them into the dustbin. This was the trigger for starting her own business. She had no idea how to start, but wonders in retrospect if this is perhaps the best way.

She began making 600 samosas a week, and grew the business to over a million meals a week.

Her tips were:

Number one priority was to organise her children.
Then, learn how to do everything yourself (nothing is too menial).
Finally, don’t listen to other people (especially your parents!)

Her reasons for success were:

  1. Target your market
  2. Grow gradually
  3. People – 25 nationalities
  4. Products – are the best quality
  5. Customers – we love our customers

Rosie_WolfendenRosie Wolfenden and Harriet Vine are the founders of Tatty Devine whose distinctive fashion designs have made them brand leaders. In 2011 they had a boom year, with a £1 million turnover and kick started 2012 with opening a Selfridges pop up shop which launched their new silver label. The two London Tatty Devine boutiques are located in Brick Lane and Covent Garden.

Harriet_VineThey are independently run and design every piece, 99% of the jewellery is made by hand in their workshops (based in London and Kent). Their custom-made jewellery has been worn by everyone from Claudia Schiffer to Jessie J.

They are very proud of producing their own book on How to Make Jewellery.

In the last two years they have started letting others in to their business, such as developing a new website, to enable them to concentrate on the jewellery.

Christina_RichardsonChristina Richardson is founder of The Nurture Network the UK’s first on-demand marketing department for start-ups and entrepreneurial growth businesses. Christina has spent much of her career managing and growing FMCG brands worth in excess of £100 million.

Now she and her blue-chip trained team, work flexibly across multiple businesses – being their marketing expertise, part time or for specific projects – calling in creative specialists from their network as and when they are needed.

Her tips for new businesses:

  1. You need to give yourself the strongest foundations you can. Be distinctly different by playing a different game.
  2. Define your brand by being clear on your ‘onlyness’. Think about who your brand would be if it were a person.
  3. Test your brand out with real people.
  4. Have a vision, but with numbers. Know the future you want to create.

And for existing businesses:

  1. Marketing is everything that touches your consumer.
  2. Always think consumer first. Choose which group will be your most valuable customers. This will inform your marketing chooses.
  3. Plan with the end in mind and be objectives driven.
  4. Use everything you can do to spread your brand
  5. Bootstrap and collaborate

The evening closed with a lively question and answer session followed by some serious networking until closing time.